New | Chinese developer Xinming gets family-friendly with new project

Hong Kong-listed mainland developer Xinming China Holdings aims to provide one-stop service for Chinese mothers and children at its commercial properties with a new business model that covers everything from pregnancy to home-schooling teens.

“My project is targeting that niche market [related to mothers, babies, and kids] because today’s commercial property development has huge problems of homogenisation,” said Chen Chengshou, chairman of Hangzhou-based Xinming China. “We must find our own specific position in the market… and financialise our business strategy.”

Xinming China is not the first Chinese commercial property developer to test the waters of children-focused real estate, but it is probably the first to look at serving such a broad spectrum of potential customers from pregnant women to children below the age of 14.

The company’s business model centres on its children-centric real estate projects supported by four other wings -- development funds, trade and exhibition, culture, and e-commerce -- which are involved in six major fields of business including shopping, entertainment, food, education, living, and health.

Unlike the traditional practise of selling commercial space to investors who then lease the space to businesses, Chen said child-related brands looking to open stores inside his shopping malls could directly purchase space from the developer and pay property management fees. These brands can also borrow from the Xinming China-controlled development fund by pledging the stores they purchase as collateral.

Chen said the initial stage of funding will be an investment of  600 million yuan (HK$732 million), which will be evenly divided into six subsidiary funds with each matching one or two hundred domestic and international brands within six categories of business.